Whether it’s for a quick break or something more adventurous, for most of us, travel insurance is a must. Travel insurance can cover you for a range of problems when travelling abroad, from the catastrophic to the merely inconvenient.
When you buy a holiday or a flight, you’ll almost certainly be offered insurance to go with it. It’s all too easy to say yes, and add the cost to the bill, but you are probably better off shopping around and taking out a policy independently. With this website you can find the cheapest travel insurance by comparing policies from all the leading insurers.
Our online travel insurance quotation engine is simple to use and provides clear details of the policies available. This allows you to see both the price and policy details for over 400 travel insurance policies available in the UK. You'll be able to see the cheapest deals on offer and pick one which best suits your needs. Policies start from just £2.00 per person.
You need to decide if you should take out a policy that will cover you just for one holiday, or take out an annual policy that will cover you for all the trips you take (within limits) for a whole year.
Single Trip cover provides protection when you are travelling to a particular destination for a particular time period, for example 2 weeks in Spain. If you only travel abroad once a year, this is probably the best option for you.
Annual Multi Trip cover provides protection for each trip you make during a year, and generally works out to be the cheapest option if you plan to travel abroad more than once a year. For example, if you plan to go skiing for 1 week in March, then spend 2 weeks in Greece in July, then a week in Tenerife in November, this may be cheaper than buying individual policies for each trip. Please check each insurer's details to see how many days cover you receive for each trip.
You don’t have to be a very frequent holidaymaker to save with an annual policy – for example, an adult travelling within Europe would need take only three holidays in a year to make it worthwhile.
An annual policy is particularly convenient if you’re the type of person who likes to take advantage of last minute deals as you won’t have to remember to take out insurance, even if you decide to take off on the spur of the moment.
Unlike most other insurance, travel insurance covers you for a range of very different types of problem. Make sure you get the right cover for your particular needs.
Travel insurance normally covers you if your baggage and belongings are lost or stolen or damaged – up to a certain limit.
With policies that replace items on a new-for-old basis, the insurer either pays the full cost of repairing damaged items or pays to replace them if they are stolen or destroyed.
Some policies won’t pay for the cost of buying new spectacles if they are stolen or damaged while you are away.
There’s usually a limit on the amount of cash a policy will pay out for if you are robbed. Such limits (between £150 and £500, depending on the policy) also include travellers’ cheques.
Some of the best deals offer at least £1 million of medical cover in Europe, and £2 million in the USA and the rest of the world. This cover includes the cost of an air ambulance to get you home, should this be necessary. One of the main issues with travel insurance is whether the insurer will cover pre-existing medical conditions. Some policies will automatically exclude any pre-existing condition; others take a more sympathetic approach. Either way, you should always discuss any pre-existing medical condition with an insurer before buying a policy – and answer any questions they ask you about this honestly. It’s worth remembering that some policies will waive the excess for medical claims if you use your E111 to get medical treatment in Europe.
Travel insurance will usually also pay you compensation if you have to cancel or cut short your trip, because of illness, for example, or the death of a close relative. But the maximum amount you can claim varies from policy to policy, from around £1,500 to £5,000. Policies may also have different reasons they will accept for legitimately cancelling a trip. You should make sure you have enough to cover the full cost of the holiday.
Like many types of insurance, travel insurance normally has an excess, which means you have to pay the first part of a claim. Not only do excesses differ from one policy to another, but some policies will charge an excess for each part of the policy you might claim under, whereas others will make you pay an excess only once.
If your journey is delayed through no fault of your own, you may be able to claim compensation under your travel insurance policy. But the amount that will be paid, and the minimum time you have to be delayed before you can claim, varies from one insurer to another. You normally have to be delayed for eight hours before you can claim anything.
